The icon of Our Lady, which was saved by a family of Thessalonians from the fire of 1917 that burned the church of Agios Dimitrios and the whole of Thessaloniki, was handed over to the church today by the newly enthroned Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Mr. Filotheos.

This icon was in the church of Agios Dimitrios and was rescued by the Kaltsa family, who took it with them when they left Thessaloniki in 1930 and later settled in Chalkida.

The story of the icon was narrated by Metropolitan Philotheos, handing it over after the liturgy and the high priestly liturgy held in the church of the patron saint of Thessaloniki, Agios Dimitrios.

“On the last Sunday that I officiated in Chalkida, in the church of Agios Nikolaos where I was baptized, brought up and ordained by Saint Chalkidos, at the time of the distribution of the gift, a gentleman came and said to me: “at the end, I want something from you”. The man waited for me to give the counter-gift and as soon as I finished he came to me and said: “I want to give you something for Thessaloniki”. I say “thank you, when do you want to meet?” We met one day and he brought me this image. This man, named Georgios Kaltsas, came from Thessaloniki, his parents and grandparents lived here. In the 30’s they left Thessaloniki and after many years he and his family found themselves in Chalkida. This icon of the Virgin was in the church of Agios Dimitrios before the fire of 1917 and his family, in the great fire of ΄17, rescued this icon. And this image was left in the hands of his family, in this man who – completely by chance? – nothing is accidental in our life, he wanted to offer it to me because he told me that the place of this image is in Agios Dimitrios and not in his house. So we thank him very much. May we all have the blessing of the Mother of God. I will personally undertake the costs of the maintenance of the icon and we will place it here in the church so that we have the blessing of reminding us of the fire of ’17 from which the city was destroyed but also saved thanks to Saint Demetrius and may it prevent God through the embassies of the Most Holy Theotokos and Saint Demetrius against every threat” said Metropolitan Philotheos, who after the end of the divine service accepted the wishes of the clergy and the people.